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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619480">Seventeen</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaviis/pseuds/Novaviis'>Novaviis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Watercolour [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Young Justice (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive Parents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Coming of Age, Depression, Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Horny Teenagers, M/M, Protective Barry Allen, Superpowers, Suspense, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:41:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,765</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaviis/pseuds/Novaviis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally's life is at a crossroads, and so close to everything he's always dreamed of; he's dating his best friend, about to head to University, and saving the world every day as Kid Flash. But just when he's riding high, his whole life seems to come crashing down as his powers begin to attack his body. Everything comes to a head all at once, and when combined with a volatile relationship with his parents, Wally learns that there is only so much one person can take. Luckily, Dick and Barry are there to support him. </p><p>Will it be enough to save him?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dick Grayson/Wally West</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Watercolour [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/580027</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>290</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Waiting Game</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It's taken me ages to finally get this fic down and I'm so fucking excited to begin. It's been far too long since I've done a multichapter fic like this, and being such a big turning point in Watercolour, this is sure to be a ride. </p><p>A couple quick notes I'll likely end up deleting later. First, I'm not sure I'm married to this title just yet, so don't be surprised if it changes before chapter 2 comes out. Second, I don't have any tags in place for it just yet because I'm still undecided on how I'm going to do it, but as a general heads up there's likely to be some nfsw scenes later on in the fic. Just want to be transparent about that! I'll tag accordingly once I get there. </p><p>And third I am <i>soooo</i> sorry to anyone subscribed to me while I uploaded 30+ chapters of Inuyasha fanfic, oops.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wally’s fingertips brushed the back of the mailbox. He was elbow deep, crouching down at an awkward angle just to grope at single inch of it. When his fingers touched nothing but metal, he heaved a heavy sigh and pulled his arm out, shutting the mailbox with more force than strictly necessary. Twisting his key in the lock, he yanked it out and shoved it back into his pocket, hiking his book bag over his shoulder. With one last disdainful look at the community mailbox, Wally slipped his phone out of his pocket and headed across the street. </p><p>He’d been borderline obsessively checking the mail for the past three weeks.  Every day he came back either empty handed, or with a fistful of junk mail, bills, and coupon books. And, every day, he left the mailbox and jogged across the street with his anxiety humming through his bones like a damn tuning fork and he’d just been smacked against a hard surface. He’d be buzzing like that for hours until he managed to distract himself. Thankfully, however, he had plenty of distractions to get him through the next day of feeble mailbox groping. School, friends, his “extra-curriculars”, and one awesome boyfriend usually did the trick.</p><p>His friends at school had all slowly started getting their acceptance letters to University. Wally had started his applications as soon as he could in the Fall, putting them out to all corners of the country in the hope that he’d get accepted anywhere that wasn’t <em>Kansas</em>. He had put in an application to Kansas state just to appease his Mom after hours of guilting him with tears, but it wasn’t exactly his first choice. The end of the school year was coming up fast, and with any luck, he’d be out of this town by next Autumn. That was where the anxious impatience came in - other classmates were all starting to get their acceptance offers, but he had yet to hear anything back just yet.</p><p>At this rate, the waiting was going to kill him.</p><p>Trying his best to shake off the disappointment, Wally bounded up the steps to the front porch of his home. He’d just been fiddling with his keys again when the door swung open. Wally looked up just in time to take a step back before his Dad walked into him. The two of them stopped on either side of the doorway, as Rudolph looked up from his watch with a startled noise. That one moment of neither of them saying anything, neither of them knowing how to step out of the way, was awkward enough to make Wally cringe.</p><p>“Ah, sorry Dad,” Wally stepped to the side, holding the screen door open for his father to walk through, his other hand stuffed into his pocket.</p><p>Rudolph nodded, letting the inner door lazily swing shut as he let go and stepped out. “It’s fine,” he grunted. “School was good today?”</p><p>“Yeah, same as always,” Wally shrugged, adjusting the strap of his bag over his shoulder.</p><p>“Your exams are coming up soon, aren’t they?” Rudolph asked.</p><p>Wally could just tell he was trying to hold any semblance of a normal conversation with him. It was almost painful to watch. “Soon, yeah,” he replied. “Startin’ to hit the books. I’m going to an end of the year party with the Team tonight, before we’re all too busy to hang out.” It was true for the most part. They were celebrating the near end of the school year, when they’d have more mission assignments over the summer, but it wasn’t like it was a last chance to see each other. The Cave was a popular study spot for the young heroes during exam season. Tonight, however, was meant to be a bit of a release, before the stress of their upcoming tests.</p><p>His dad scowled. “Doesn’t sound like studying to me.”</p><p>“Hey, you know me,” Wally grinned, tapping his head with his finger. “Got it all up here.”</p><p>“<em>Wally</em>.”</p><p>He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m studying, I’m studying.”</p><p>Rudolph held out for a moment longer before reluctantly giving in. “Alright. Are you home for dinner tonight?”</p><p>“Nah, I’ve got patrol with Uncle Barry,” Wally said, regretting the words the second they fell off his tongue, even if they were true. His father’s face turned sour, his somewhat agreeable mood turning with it. He scrambled to recover. “But I’m staying put for the rest of the weekend,” he said. That was, of course, leaving out the possibility that he’d be called for an emergency assignment, but he thought it best not to push it. “Uh, maybe tomorrow we can... check out that new record downtown? If you want, I mean.”</p><p>“Maybe,” his dad nodded after a pause. He turned to walk down the porch steps, the headlights of his car flashing in the driveway.</p><p>Wally walked along the porch, leaning against the rail looking over the pavement. “Where’re you headed?”</p><p>“Watching the game at the bar,” Rudolph grunted over the click of the car unlocking.</p><p>“Oh, cool. Well, have-” Wally didn’t bother to finish, like he even had the chance. Without a second glance, Rudolph got in the car and shut the door. The sputtering roar of the engine echoed off the side of the house as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the street. Wally watched him go, still leaning against the rail of the house, as the car rolled up the street and disappeared past the neighbour’s trees. He exhaled, dropping his head with his shoulders.</p><p>Honestly, he was a little relieved that his dad had left so quickly. Wally had attempted to carry a normal interaction, but it just... wasn’t there. Any dejected feelings he had were quickly brushed off, and with an ease that shouldn’t have some so naturally. Pushing off the rail, Wally turned and headed into the house.</p><p>“Mom?” he called toward the living room as he kicked his runners off in the vague direction of the shoe wrack.</p><p>Her voice answered from the office instead. “Wally? Is that you, baby?” she called back.</p><p>Wally laughed, tossing his book bag onto the sofa. “How many sons do you have?”</p><p>“Oh, stop,” Mary said as she came out of the hallway, intercepting him in the middle of the living room. She had a suspiciously large smile on her face - not that it was a bad thing, but it instantly put Wally at attention, eyeing her as he shrugged out of his jacket. Completely and blissfully unaware, Mary walked over to him, her hands clasped behind her back. “How was school, sweetheart?”</p><p>“Fine...” Wally replied slowly, trying to step around her to see what she was hiding. Mary’s smile widened, sidestepping to keep him from seeing behind her. Wally leaned back against the couch with a smirk, crossing his arms and raising a brow at his mother. “Alright, what’re you smiling about?”</p><p>“Do I need an excuse to be smiling?” Mary retorted.</p><p>“No, but if you look two seconds from spraining a muscle in your face, I figure it’s a fair question.”</p><p>“Alright, smartypants,” Mary laughed, all bubbling excitement and mild-mannered humour. With her smile practically beaming, she brought her hands out from behind her back, presenting an envelope with the top torn off and the letter hastily stuffed back inside. “It’s from Kansas State!”</p><p>“Mom!” Wally blanched in protest as he swiped the envelope out of her hands. “You can’t just open my mail!”</p><p>Quick to brush off his annoyance, Mary clicked her tongue. “I’m your <em>mother</em>,” she replied as if that had any bearing on it. “Go on, open it!”</p><p>Holding back his frustration, for now, Wally conceded and slipped the letter out of the shredded envelope. He could barely read the print for Kansas State on the front of the envelope through the rips. Tossing it onto the sofa behind him, he unfolded the letter. His eyes went to the first several lines and did not bother to read the long-winded paragraphs before.</p><p>
  <em>Dear Mr. Wallace R. West,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Congratulations. Kansas State University is proud to offer you acceptance into our Physics programs, as a Bachelor of Science....</em>
</p><p>His mom was practically rocking on her heels in excitement, waiting for him to finish. Wally peeked up at her over the paper, before plastering on an unconvincing smile. “Wow, uh... cool.”</p><p>“I’m so happy for you, baby!” Mary squealed as she pulled him into a tight hug, entirely oblivious to his less than enthusiastic reaction. “Kansas State is fantastic. I think I still have Dad’s old letterman jacket in the attic. You’re going to love it!”</p><p>Wally pat her back in a halfhearted attempt to return the hug, stepping back as soon as her death grip on him loosened. “Yeah, sure,” he said, tucking the letter into his backpack, “but, uh, any chance you’ve seen anything from Stanford?”</p><p>“Stanford? No, nothing from them,” Mary replied, idly smoothing his hair to fall neatly to one side. “Just don’t wait for too long to hear back, alright? Make sure you send in your acceptance soon to keep your spot.”</p><p>He only nodded, not saying another word about the matter - a lie by omission. Offering a fleeting smile to appease her, he ducked out of the living room and headed into the kitchen. He dropped his bag at the table, hooking the strap over a corner as he continued on to the cupboard. He reached up to the top shelf and pulled down a small cardboard box. Inside was a haphazard pile of nutrition bars formulated for him by Star Labs. He’d taken to putting them on the top shelf where his mother wasn’t as likely to go out of her way to take them and pass them out to her friends as “diet snacks”. To his credit though, the only reason they were so messily piled into the box was because he usually fished through the assortment for the peanut butter flavoured ones - all the other flavours tasted like cardboard, but then again, the mad scientists at Star likely weren’t too concerned with the taste. Grabbing a handful, Wally tossed a few into his bag and ripped open the last still in his hand. He took a bite and immediately made a face. Definitely <em>not</em> peanut butter.</p><p>Mary followed in a few moments after. “Do you want potato salad or green beans with dinner tonight?” she asked as she began to unload both, regardless, from the fridge.</p><p>Wally cringed. “Mom, I told you last weekend that I’m not gonna be home tonight.”</p><p>“I already have the chicken marinating, Wally,” she huffed as the fridge door closed to reveal her unimpressed look.</p><p>Ducking his head, he slipped past her to grab a few sports drinks from the other side of the fridge. “I’m sorry, that sounds <em>really </em>good, but I already planned-”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Mary sighed, dropping herself into a chair at the table - the same one Wally had hung his bag on out of the three other chairs. “I guess I’ll just eat by myself tonight.”</p><p>Shoulders dropping, Wally groaned and glanced to the clock. He seriously considered just calling it a night and staying in, the guilt already hitting hard. A sharp buzz in his pocket saved him. Fishing his phone out, he saw Barry’s contact flash across the screen and opened the message.</p><p>
  <em>Early start today, kid. BA</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tar Pit’s loose downtown. Last seen between Fifth Ave and Wyandotte Blvd. BA</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Race ya. BA</em>
</p><p>Wally had never in his life been more glad to face off a molten tar monster. It was a strain just to keep the relief off his face as he quickly pocketed his phone again. “Sorry again, Mom,” he rushed as he took his backpack out from behind her and threw it over his shoulder. “I’ve gotta go. There’s a Rogue in the city, Barry needs me. Gotta run!”</p><p>Miraculously over her ruinned evening, Mary perked up in her seat, turning just to try to keep up with him. “Oh- alright, just be careful!” she called after him, her voice dimming behind him as he ran out the door.</p><p>Wally let the screen door screech shut behind him as he jogged down the porch and out onto the sidewalk. Normally, he would have taken some time to unwind after school, and he’d wanted to pack a few things for the party tonight, but he’d been given an out to a very uncomfortable evening with his mother and he wasn’t about to pass it up or waste time. Making his way down the street at a <em>very</em> human pace, Wally turned the corner from his neighbourhood and to a small convenience store on the corner. He ducked between it and the disused old house on the overgrown lot behind it. Out of view from the street, he tapped on a piece of siding on the house. The board lifted, and a small camera blinked back at him. With a chime, his face was recognized, and more siding pulled back into the wall to reveal the doorway to a room plated with heavy metal. On the wall inside the room was another small compartment, a miniature zetabeam port. These pockets had been a lifesaver since the League had installed them in the major cities. In a dim whirl of light, his suit appeared.</p><p>Wally changed into his uniform at lightning speed, and left his clothes in its place in the port. On a second thought, he tossed his backpack in as well, to meet him at the Cave later on. Suited up and ready to go, Wally stepped out of the room and took off toward Central City at top speed. He couldn’t keep the grin from his face as he ran in the bright sunlight and concrete heat of the city, the world a blur around him as he pushed himself after than any human could see. He’d be a bright flash of yellow and red, kicking up wind in his wake, and he loved every second of that thrill.</p><p>A twinge spiked in his chest, an all-too-familiar feeling as of late but easily ignorable. It had started in strange bursts over the past several months, spread out and mild. Probably just a result of not training as much as he should. It was irritating at most, and Wally easily pushed himself to ignore it and keep going.</p><p>As he dashed through the streets, it soon became clear enough where the epicentre of the latest disturbance was. Civilians were running through the streets in the opposite direction, away from the clouds of smoke and dust kicked up from the fighting. Small fires and clumps of burning tar littered the streets with more and more frequency, as the Fire department tried to block off the area. As Wally turned the corner, he had only a half-second to react, leaping over the head of the Tar monster with a solid kick to its head as he went over. Tar Pit was essentially a glob of molten carbon possessed by a disembodied consciousness - ergo, nothing really solid to hit, and virtually indestructible, but at the force of his speed Wally managed to at the very least knock him off balance. He was rewarded with a tar stain on the bottom of his boot, the material resistant enough not to burn away, though he could still feel the heat in his foot. As he came sliding to a stop, using his slick foot for momentum, he ended up right next to his mentor.</p><p>Barry grinned down at him from underneath his cowl. “I win.”</p><p>Wally just rolled his eyes. “Go figure.”</p><p>“Split!”</p><p>Without question, Wally followed the order and rolled out of the way, Barry splitting off in the opposite direction just as a piece of tar the size of a car was hurled where they’d been standing moments before. Wally followed through the roll and came up on his feet, just as Barry rounded the other side of Tar Pit and stand next to him again.</p><p>“How the hell did he break out of Iron Heights?” Wally grunted as he rose up to full height. The two of them were moving at a higher frequency than the rest of the world, everything slowing down around them. Barry responded, but Wally couldn’t quite understand the words as he sped through them - evidently, he still couldn’t quite reach his frequency. “Flash... yo, Flash! Slow down!”</p><p>Realizing for the first time that Wally wouldn’t keep up, Barry laughed and complied, coming down to his speed. “Sorry, Kid. Rookie guard from what I understand. Didn’t follow protocols while opening his cell. Poor guy is in the ER for fourth-degree burns.”</p><p>“Yikes,” Wally recoiled. “So, what’s the plan? Don’t suppose Captain Cold is suddenly up for helping out?”</p><p>“Not likely,” Barry shook his head. “Best bet’s setting up a Stasis Field around the block. We’ll just need to keep him contained until then.”</p><p>Wally raised a brow. “Don’t suppose you have the components handy? Split!”</p><p>Like clockwork, the two of them once again broke apart from each other, racing out of the way of another piece of flaming tar soared toward them in slow motion - though still a little too close for comfort. Wally ran forward, sliding onto his knees and ducking underneath the tar. He was on his feet again before the tar landed on the asphalt behind him. Without missing a beat, he followed through and ran forward. Barry was already coming at Tar Pit from the side. The Flash grabbed an unfortunate patio umbrella from in front of a restaurant, the fabric all burnt away, and used the broken metal pole as a javelin. He threw it into Tar Pit, the creature screeching out in anger more than pain as it impaled him. As the monster stumbled back, it geared up to attack Barry. With its attention elsewhere, Wally took his chance and leapt at the pole, planting his feet on the metal and shoving with all his momentum. Tar Pit was sent spinning off balance and crashing to the ground. Wally flipped over, hands planted on the ground and pushing off until he’d turned over upright. Having an acrobat boyfriend had certainly taught him a new trick or two.</p><p>Once they’d both retreated a reasonable distance, Tar Pit still struggling to get up, Barry opened a compartment on his glove and slipped out four small discs. “Anyway,” he said as he opened his palm to show them to Wally, “as it just so happens, I do. These should be enough to hold him, but we’ll need something the generate enough power to hold the field.” Barry dropped the discs into Wally’s hand. “You set up the Stasis, I’ll run distraction.”</p><p>Wally closed his glove around them, looking back to his Uncle. “I’ll have to improvise.”</p><p>Barry grinned. “What you do best, Kid.”</p><p>Wally grinned back. With a two-fingered salute, he was off. Barry ran head-on toward Tar Pit, working on keeping him contained and minimizing damage while buying time. Wally had to think fast. He was familiar enough with the discs, knew that they worked to subdue minor criminals without pain, just by planing them on their body. Tar Pit was a special kind of annoying though - any attempt to place the discs on his body would result in them melting away without effect in contact. So, as Barry said, they’d need to create some kind of circuit to freeze him in place until he could be properly contained and transported back to Iron Heights. The only problem now was figuring out how to do that. Wally scanned the street and found several totalled cars lying in the surrounding wreckage. That’d do.</p><p>Running to the nearest car, Wally dug his fingers under the gap of the hood and pried the dented metal open. It took a bit of yanking but he managed to get it open, revealing the mechanics beneath. Working as quickly as possible, Wally disconnected the battery. A thin solder extended from the fingertip of his glove. Using that and a few extra wires he’d snipped from the car (he figured, at this point, the owner wouldn’t mind considering the unusable state of the car), he managed to connect the battery to the disc. It was a crude set up, but after a quick test, the disk sparked to life, a weak connection drawing the other disks in his hand to light up. He shut it off before it could activate the rest, tucking the remaining disks away. Once he wasn’t in danger of paralyzing himself, he reactivated the battery and set it up on a nearby bench.</p><p>From there, he just focused on getting the task done. He went from car to car on the street, searching for undamaged batteries. It wasn’t an easy task. Three cars in a row were duds, and even if he was working at just shy of the speed of sound it was taking longer than he’d prefer. All the while, that persistent ache in his chest was rearing up again. Wally found himself stuttering with a twitch in the middle of connecting a disco to another borrowed car battery. He winced, his hands slipping from the wire. It wasn’t until he saw the shadow growing over him that he realised he had slowed down.</p><p>He had slowed down <em>a lot</em>.</p><p>Wally barely had enough to speed up again before a massive clump of flaming carbon hit the car he’d been working from. The metal melted on contact, and Wally had just cleared the immediate area when the car exploded. He was caught in the blast, sent flying off his feet and skidding across the pavement. His suit was the only thing that kept him from a wicked road rash, but <em>fuck</em> did it hurt. He had the battery and the last disc clutched to his chest, protected from the fall at the expense of what would surely be a nasty bruise on his right shoulder. Wally gritted his teeth as he came to an abrupt stop, hitting the tire of another overturned vehicle.</p><p>When he opened his eyes, the world around him was caught in a fit of starts and stops. Disoriented beyond what he could explain, he watched as Tar Pit turned on him in normal time. He raised his hand, and just moments before a projectile of molten tar was released from his body, he slowed down, the tar suspended in mid air. Somewhere behind him he was vaguely aware of Barry, appearing to run at a speed that even in this state Wally could only barely keep up with. In the next second, as a surge of that same aching energy slammed into him, Barry had disappeared, and the tar was flying toward him not even ten feet away. Wally tried to scramble to his feet, but it was as if thousands of volts were being shot through his limbs. He could feel the heat of the tar coming at him just moments before a blur of red darted in front of him. Barry’s figure appeared with a broken stop sign, swinging it with all his gathered momentum. The tar was hit off course, slamming into the pavement on the other side of the street. Barry dropped the sign a second later, the metal already bubbling and melting under the residual tar smeared across it.</p><p>The second Barry took off again, trying to divert Tar Pit’s attention from a bank further down the street, Wally knew he couldn’t waste any more time. He forced himself to his feet, gathered his speed and took off toward the last corner of his incomplete field. As he ran, he struggled with the battery in his hand, jamming the disc into place. He had just seconds before it would activate the remainder of the discs and paralyze either him or Central’s current terror. Wally pushed himself toward the last corner of the field. He just needed to get it far enough on the other side of Tar Pit to put him in stasis. But the harder he pushed himself, the greater the radiating pain in his chest became, until at the last moment, it hit him like a bolt of lightning. Wally yelped, his legs giving out from under him as his speed crashed. However, with a gritty determination, he threw the battery ahead of him, watching as it skid across the ground, aligned with the others, and froze mid-skip on the concrete. Wally was just out of range of the field, as was Barry, but Tar Pit was frozen just inches away from reaching out for the mentor’s torso. Wally propped himself up on his elbows, sweating and panting for air as he looked across the street at his Uncle, before the pain had him collapsing back onto the street again.</p><p>Wally hadn’t felt pain like this before. Not since the day he was struck by lightning. This wouldn’t relent. It crackled around his body, seizing his muscles. It was a struggle just to breathe through it, prone on his hands and knees, his fingers clutching at his chest. It felt as if it were radiating out from his heart, surging through his body with every pulse.</p><p>And, just like that, it stopped. Vanished as if it’d never happened. Wally was left feeling vaguely uncomfortable and exhausted, but that was about it. The tension left his muscles, and the hand on his chest dropped to the pavement to catch himself before he fell. Staring down at the yellow paint stripe on the road, the world around him righted itself, and Wally found himself wondering for a moment if it had all been in his head.</p><p>“<em>...id Flash? Kid? </em>Kid!” Barry’s voice was distant at first until it was suddenly clear and right above him. Wally felt his hands on his shoulders before he saw him, looking up to find the Flash staring down at him with concern creasing lines into his mask. “Kid, are you alright? Are you hurt?”</p><p>Wally reached up and patting his hand over one of Barry’s as he sat upright. “I’m fine, it’s nothing,” he grunted.</p><p>“Kid,” Barry snapped, that strict tone he rarely used with him practically burning on his tongue, “do <em>not</em> lie to me. What the hell happened?”</p><p>Making a stubborn show of pushing himself to his feet, Wally in the end relented and let Barry steady him. He took a moment to shift on his feet, testing his weight until he felt confident enough to stand. “I, uh... I don’t really know,” he replied, unable to take the pointed look of his mentor any longer. “I guess I was just off my game.”</p><p>“I’ve seen you just off your game,” Barry replied. “<em>That</em> wasn’t just being distracted.”</p><p>Wally shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m sorry, alright? I’ll do better next time.”</p><p>Barry pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. “Kid, this isn’t about your <em>performance</em>, it’s-” he didn’t get the chance to finish before sirens started wailing up the street. The security team from Iron Heights was arriving with transport, and the fire department was moving in for control and clean up. Barry looked over his shoulder at the Chief waving to get his attention. He hesitated a moment before looking back to Wally, eyeing him carefully beneath his mask. “Look, you’re okay for now?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Wally nodded.</p><p>“Then we’ll deal with this after we’re finished here,” Barry replied. “But we <em>will</em> deal with it, got that?”</p><p>Wally flashed a smile with that same two-fingered salute just to get under his Uncle’s skin a bit - and to assure him, at least for the time being. If he was alright enough to be a smartass about it, there was no immediate danger. To his credit, Barry managed not to laugh, but he did ruffle Wally’s hair before running over to the Fire Chief and Iron Heights Security to coordinate the transport of Tar Pit. Wally stood there in the middle of the street for a long moment, staring around at the destruction and secluded fires in the aftermath of the attack. His hand strayed up to palm over his heart, rubbing his chest with an idle, morbid curiosity.</p><p>It was a well memorized routine after that. Wally helped with the safe rearrangement of the stasis field as they used it to shrink the range around Tar Pit and load him into a heavy armoured truck. The batteries wouldn’t last forever, especially not in their beat-up condition, but they would last more than long enough to get back to Iron Heights. From there, it was time to hand the situation over to the city. Wally had debated, only for a passing second, just heading to the Cave on his own, but one sharp look from his Uncle suggested otherwise. He ran with Barry to the nearest Zeta port, pretending not to notice that Barry slowed down to keep an easy pace with him. Thankfully, they made it without incident, and within minutes Wally was stepping into that weightless light and coming out on the other side.</p><p>
  <em>“Recognized. Kid Flash, B03.”</em>
</p><p>Walking out into the main cavern of Mount Justice, Wally stretched his arms over his head and as nonchalantly as possible tried to saunter away.</p><p>
  <em>“Recognized. Flash, 04.”</em>
</p><p>Stupid move, in retrospect. He’d barely gotten more than three steps before he heard his Uncle’s moniker and felt his hand clamp down on his shoulder. Wally cringed, looking behind him to find Barry with his cowl pushed back just so he could unleash the full might of his <em>very</em> unimpressed glare. Wally lowered his arms in a shrugging gesture.</p><p>“Would you believe it was just... chest pain from stress?”</p><p>“Wally, you’re <em>18</em>.”</p><p>It’d been a longshot, anyway, Wally groaned, facing his Uncle and pushing his own mask back. “Can we not do this right here?” he begged. “The Team could hear us.”</p><p>“This is <em>serious, </em>Kid,” Barry sighed.</p><p>Wally cast a paranoid glance over his shoulder, his voice in a low and desperate hush. <em>“Please?”</em></p><p>Barry’s jaw was clenched tight, eyes flickering in the direction Wally kept looking in. “You’ve got your party with the Team tonight?” When Wally nodded, Barry sigh and jerked his head in the direction of the living quarters. As much as he had hopped he’d be able to get out of this without a conversation, Wally wasn’t about to push his luck. He gave in, following his after his Uncle. Wally paused only to activate the Zeta port on the far wall of the main cavern. He opened a sliding metal door, and after a facial recognition, a bust of bright light summoned his backpack and civvies. He shrugged it over his right shoulder, only to wince as the bruised muscle protested, and switched to his left. The change didn’t go unnoticed by his mentor. Barry brought him into a private study room just off the kitchen and the corridor of bedrooms.  Textbooks from Happy Harbour High and notebooks covered in M’gann’s elegant handwriting were still sitting on the table in the middle of the room when they entered. Wally dropped his book bag onto the sofa and sat on the armrest.</p><p>Barry leaned up against the door, crossing his arms over his chest. “Be honest with me, Wall,” he began. “How long has this been going on?”</p><p>There was no avoiding at this point, Wally knew that. There was no lying to his Uncle, either. He didn’t <em>want</em> to, never really felt the need to lie to him before... no matter how tempting it was. Wally deflated, shoulders slumped as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know,” he replied at first. Though he could tell Barry was tense and waiting for answers, he gave him the space to sort himself out, and for that Wally was immeasurably grateful. “I just... never kept track of it at first. I barely noticed until it got... <em>noticable</em>. But it’s never stopped me like it did today.”</p><p>“And what is <em>it</em>?” Barry pressed.</p><p>Wally ducked his head. “Just a bit of chest pain,” he answered. “That’s how it started out anyway. Like I said, I barely noticed it at first, but lately when I run I’ll get these, uh, random bursts of pain in my chest. I honestly thought I was just being a whimp.”</p><p>Barry pushed off the wall, crossing the short distance to Wally and placing his hand on his left shoulder. “Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something’s wrong,” he said. “You’re not a <em>whimp</em>, Wally. You just need to listen to what your body is telling you.”</p><p>Though he didn’t respond immediately, Wally nodded to show he would take that to heart - or try to, anyway. Leaning back with a grunt, Wally hauled his backpack onto his lap. “Well, anyway, I really didn’t think much of it. The most I did was start taking one of these whenever I started feeling shitty.” Pulling back the zipper, Wally rooted around the bottom of the bag, making a half-assed attempt at shielding the, ehm, <em>other</em> contents from his Uncle. Barry <em>very </em>clearly noticed, even laughed a bit at the way Wally’s ears got red, but blessedly didn’t try to peer in or invade his privacy. Wally cleared his throat as he pulled out what he was looking for, a small bottle of cherry flavoured antacid tablets.</p><p>Amusement taking a back seat for now, Barry took the bottle from Wally and turned it over to read the components on the back. “And these have been helping?” he raised a brow.</p><p>“A little,” Wally said. “I just kinda looked up ‘chest pain’ and picked them up from the pharmacy. They taste like shit though.”</p><p>Barry tossed the bottle back to Wally. “I bet.” Once Wally had caught it and shoved the bottle back into his bag, Barry let out a rough sigh and crossed his arms again, judging out his words carefully. “Look, Wally. I’m not thrilled with the fact that you kept this from me,” he began in a stern tone. Wally <em>hated</em> Stern Barry. “You’re my <em>partner</em>. More than that, you’re my nephew. We can’t be keeping things like this from each other, man. If there’s something going on with you, you <em>tell </em>me.”</p><p>Fuck, but Wally would take Stern Barry over Disappointed Barry any day. He groaned, scrubbing his hand back through is hair. “I’m sorry, Uncle Barry. I didn’t think it was worth freaking anyone out.”</p><p>“That remains to be seen,” Barry pointed out. “Listen, I’ll let you go to your party tonight, but we’re going to Star tomorrow to get this checked out. It might be nothing, but that’s not a risk we’re gonna take.”</p><p>“Sounds fair,” Wally agreed sheepishly. Shrugging his backpack on again, Wally stood off the sofa armrest. “Hey, but, uh.... mind keeping this just between us for now?” he asked, cutting in again when Barry looked like he was about to argue. “I just don’t want to worry Dick.”</p><p>After taking a minute to debate it, Barry sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Just for now. And don’t make me regret it.”</p><p>Wally grinned, reaching up to his chest with his finger. “Cross my heart,” he vowed with the accompanying gesture.</p><p>The automatic door slid open as the two heroes approached and walked out into the hall. “So,” Barry cleared his throat as they headed out. “You and Dick... you two doing good?”</p><p>Wally raised a brow, glancing back at his Uncle from the corner of his eyes. “Yeah...?”</p><p>“Good, that’s good. I mean, you two have been together for two years now.” Barry practically refused to make eye contact.</p><p>Oddly enough, the strange behaviour didn’t put Wally on guard - but it did weird him out. “I’m aware of that, yeah.”</p><p>Barry nodded along. “And you two are... you know, being safe-”</p><p>“Oh <em>hell</em> no,” Wally cut him off. “No, nope, I’m not having this conversation with you!”</p><p>“No, of course not!” Barry awkwardly raised his hands. “No conversation here. I just - want to make sure you have protection just in ca-”</p><p>“I- no, yeah, I mean,” Wally could feel the heat rising in his face all over again. He picked up the pace and ran ahead. “I’m gonna be late for the party. See ya later!’</p><p>“Kid-”</p><p>“Bye!”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Literally nothing about this is going to be a major surprise to anyone who's read the rest of the Watercolour series but damn if I'm not going to draw this out. As always, tell me what you think!</p><p><a href="https://novaviis.tumblr.com">「TUMBLR」</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/novaviis">「TWITTER」</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Crashing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I believe I've said it before but I'll say it again - the second chapter of a fic like this is <i>always</i> the hardest.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The bruise on his right shoulder was dark purple and throbbing by the time Wally got out of the shower. The wide room of white ceramic tile was filled with dense steam, condensation building up on the shower-heads long after Wally had shut off the water. Scrubbing his hand over his face to shake off the last droplets of water, he carded his fingers back through his dripping wet hair and winced as the movement caused his shoulder to ache. The bruising had set in almost immediately, a brutal shade of violet blossoming underneath his skin. The bruise itself was larger than the span of his hand, and covered his shoulder. He caught a better glance of it in the mirror after he’d wrapped himself in a towel and wiped the heavy build-up of fog on the glass.</p><p>It’d heal soon enough. Within a day or two it’d be completely gone. That wasn’t the issue. Wally ghosted his fingers over the gruesome skin, feeling the pulsating heat radiating off of it. He’d done a fair job of playing the incident off to Barry, even if his Uncle was unconvinced, but the truth of the matter was painfully clear now. With some time and quiet to think about it, the issue was beginning to weigh heavier and heavier on his sore shoulders.</p><p>That’d never happened before. Those little bursts of pain were nothing new to him. They’d just always sort of been there, more-so over the years when he’d pushed himself to run faster. He’d been telling the truth when he had said he’d thought nothing of it. All this time, he had figured it was normal. Just hitting the wall. He had always been able to push through it without much discomfort, just a natural side effect of exertion. It had been getting increasingly difficult to ignore over the past several months, though. Some naive part of him had been hopeful that the problem would just resolve itself on its own, perhaps out of fear of confronting whatever the problem itself was. He’d made up a million excuses, and they had all just run out.</p><p>The surge of pain he’d felt today was... new. Unnerving, to say the least. It’d never been <em>that</em> <em>bad</em>, and never hindered his performance in action. He’d be lying if he said the thought wasn’t scary. Wally’s hand shifted from over his shoulder to rub over his chest, palm lingering over his heart.</p><p>It was nothing. Or if it wasn’t nothing now, it would be. Had to be. The mirror was already beginning to fog up again, clouding over his view of the bruise. Turning from the mirror, Wally stepped out into the locker room, and started getting dressed. There was no fucking way he was going to let this ruin his night. He had enough on his mind lately, and this wasn’t going to stack onto the amount of bullshit he had to deal with. Even he could recognize it as a desperate thought, but stubbornly insisted on pushing it to the back of his mind. Once he was dried and dressed in swim trunks and a t-shirt, he shoved his things into his backpack and headed out into the cave.</p><p>There wasn’t a single sign of life inside Mount Justice as he walked through the stone corridors. It was that eerie kind of quiet that only existed in the middle of the night here, a hum of generators and computers working away. It looked as if even Barry had left. The only signs that anyone had been there at all were the dishes left in the kitchen sink and the slow drop of the faucet. An empty bag of potato chips had been left on the counter beside a likewise empty cardboard case of pop. Hiking his backpack strap over his shoulder, he headed past the kitchen and out toward the exterior door.</p><p>The moment Wally stepped outside, he was momentarily blinded by the sunlight. He came out on the base level of the Mountain, just before the path that slopped down a steep decline toward the ocean. The path was lined with bushes and patches of weeds, with rocks jutting out on either side that hid the view of the beach. He couldn’t see the sand from here, but he could hear the crash of the ocean waves, and the heavy bass of music and laughter below. As his eyes adjusted to the clear blue sky and the sparkling ocean, Wally found himself grinning to himself and hurrying down. Just like that, his worries took a back burner.</p><p>Rounding down the path, Wally came out on the green edge of the beach, where patches of long beach grass swayed and bent in the wind. He ditched his shoes there, trekking over the dunes to the other side of the beach. Nearly tripping in the loose sand, Wally just barely caught himself before he could fall back on his ass. Not far from him, Roy sat in a beat-up lawn chair and laughed his ass off.</p><p>“Smooth moves, West,” Roy grinned.</p><p>Stumbling at the bottom of the dune, Wally glared at his friend. “Fuck off, Harper,” he countered, kicking a bit of sand his way for good measure. Roy was set up next to a shallow inlet at the base of the mountain path, where the rocks formed a barrier from the wind. An assortment of lawn chairs, blankets, and towels had been spread out around a pile of charred wood that would make up their fire later on. Dropping his bag on Dick’s towel, Wally unzipped it and looked back to the older hero. “Hey, where’s your cooler?”</p><p>When Roy gestured to the cooler beside his chair, Wally grabbed a few coolers and beers and shoved them into the ice inside. He only caught Roy’s smirk and raised brow as he sat back. “How the hell did you get those?” he asked.</p><p>Wally merely shrugged as he zipped up his bag again. “Dad won’t notice they’re gone,” he replied with a smirk of his own. “He never does.”</p><p>Roy shook his head, scrubbing his hand down his face. “Fuck, I am a bad influence.”</p><p>“Only on special occasions,” Wally laughed as he pushed himself to his feet, graciously using Roy’s shoulder to hoist himself up and nearly knock the archer off his chair. Roy shoved him off, only making Wally laugh harder. It was only then that he noticed that Roy was holding his phone, in the middle of texting someone with the first initial “J”. The moment Roy caught him looking at his screen, he aimed a sucker-punch at his thigh. Wally just narrowly dodged it, skipping to the side in the sand. “Who’re you talkin’ to?” he asked with a toothy grin. When Roy blatantly ignored him and sat on his phone to avoid any high-speed bullshit, Wally only grinned wider. “Could it be our old friend chesh-”</p><p>“I <em>will</em> kill you,” Roy cut him off.</p><p>Wally raised his hands in surrender, backing up a few steps toward the beach. “Alright, alright, I give,” he chuckled. “Where are the others? I need some better company.”</p><p>Roy looked over Wally’s shoulder and smirked to himself, but didn’t say anything as he sunk back into his chair to continue his sunbathing - not that it’d do much good, the man was plastered in a greasy white sheen of sunblock, which also reminded Wally that he’d need to slather himself as well if he didn’t want to end the weekend looking like a freshly boiled lobster. He was, however, too absorbed in that erratic train of thought to think to look behind him.</p><p>“Hey! That guy’s hot!”</p><p>Never in his life had Wally considered that getting catcalled would make him so damn happy. He turned around, smile widening the moment he saw his boyfriend. Dick was sitting on a beach towel in the sand, blue eyes shining back at him. His sunglasses were sitting forgotten on the towel next to him as he flashed a sly grin back at the red-head. It was still almost a little strange, seeing him unmasked and unguarded in front of their friends like this. It’d been a long time coming that was for sure, and still a subject of great tension between Dick and his adoptive father, but it’d been Dick’s decision in the end to tell their teammates his true identity. Barbara and Artemis had already figured it out long ago, a consequence that came with going to the same school, but it had been a big decision for Dick to reveal himself.</p><p>There was a selfish little part of Wally that missed Dick being his secret, of being the only one on the team who really got to see him. But there was absolutely no denying how much it meant to Dick, how open he’d become to their friends now that he didn’t have to hide such a big part of himself. And who was Wally to keep that to himself? He couldn’t, didn’t want to, not when Dick was looking at him like that, all blue-eyes and dashing smile.</p><p>Wally hadn’t made it too steps toward him, however, before Raquel was jumping out from behind the rocks and blasting him with a water gun. He sputtered, throwing his arms up in a vain attempt to shield himself, but there was no use. Within seconds, his shirt was completely soaked through and his hair was already dripping wet.</p><p>Back at the towel, Dick cupped his hands over his mouth and wolf-whistled as Artemis and Barbara joined him, laughing hysterically at the speedster. “Woo! Take your shirt off!” Dick hollered as the girls echoed his calling.</p><p>Wally shook his head, but laughed and complied nonetheless, stripping his wet t-shirt off to the hoots and hollers of his friends. Alright - if Dick found it so funny, it was <em>on</em>. He could just barely make Dick muttering an <em>“oh, shit”</em> before he took off running down the beach. He kicked up sand in his wake as he tore off toward his boyfriend, scooping him up off the towel and carrying him into the water until he was knee-deep. Dick held onto him for dear life, but knew what was up the moment Wally stopped.</p><p>“No, no, no, no! I’ve got my phone in my pocket, don’t!” Dick cried, scrambling as if he could climb onto Wally’s shoulders and spare himself his watery doom.</p><p>“No you don’t,” Wally smirked. “I already felt your butt.”</p><p>Dick’s expression fell. There was a single second between him bravely accepting his fate and Wally tossing him into the surf. He may have gotten soaked again in the splash, but it was absolutely worth it to hear Dick’s undignified yelp before he hit the water. There wasn’t much time to gloat before Dick was recovering and taking his feet out from under him, sending him falling into the water with him. What followed was a valiant wrestling match as the tide continued to mercilessly batter them. Whereas Dick was the better fighter, literally trying to jiu-jitsu his way to victory, Wally had the advantage of size and strength. The moment Dick nearly had him in a chokehold, straddling his back, Wally managed to rise to his feet with his boyfriend still grappling him, easily ignoring the sore protest of his shoulder.</p><p>With a loud, obnoxious battle cry, Wally threw his weight down, fast enough to gain the upper hand without endangering the spider monkey clinging to his back. Dick hit the sand at the very edge of the tide, still laughing as Wally pinned him down and claimed victory. They were both dripping wet and covered in clumps of sand, but hardly seemed to notice. Wally wiggled his brows, only making Dick laugh more until he swooped down to kiss him. The water lapped at them in a lazy rhythm, the hush and roar of the ocean fading into a soft background noise as Wally focused everything on the feeling of his boyfriend; his lips, his smile, his body underneath him.</p><p>Wally only pulled back with Dick bit at his lip, raising a brow down at him. Once again, Dick only laughed, flashing a mischievous grin. “Oh, you think you’re funny, huh?”</p><p>“Hilarious, actually,” Dick corrected, arms draped over the back of his neck. “All part of my rouse to get my boyfriend’s shirt off.”</p><p>Wally sat up, still straddling Dick’s legs and crossing his arms over his chest. “I will not be objectified.”</p><p>Dick propped himself up on his elbows, dark hair still plastered to his forehead in a wet mess. “Yes you will.”</p><p>“Damn, you got me,” Wally laughed bracing one hand in the sand while his other arm wrapped around Dick’s back to hold him closer as he leaned in for another kiss.</p><p>It was a short-lived victory, however, as a particularly large wave rocked them both off balance. The water carried them further up into the sand. Wally coughed and spit water from his eyes, Dick doing the same at his side now that he’d let go. The two boys were left sitting pitifully in the sand as two sets of feet approached them. Wally looked up, scowling with his hair dripping his eyes, as Garth and Tula stood grinning over them.</p><p>“Oh hell no,” Wally said as he pushed himself to his feet. “Nope, not getting into a water fight with the fish people, no way.”</p><p>Garth crossed his arms. “No idea what you’re talking about, my friend,” the Atlantean leered, as Tula giggled beside him.</p><p>Wally opened his mouth to protest, when another rogue waved crashed over his head. Dick was only caught in the spray at his side, shielding himself in his arms as he scrambled back in the sand. Wally looked over his shoulder just as Kaldur rose up from the water a few yards out, the tattoos on his arms still glowing.</p><p>Shaking the water from his hair, Wally turned his ire toward his team leader. “Aren’t you supposed to be the mature one here?”</p><p>Kaldur’ahm only grinned. “Oh, I am,” he said as he walked up the shore. “I just could not quite remember the surface phrase I was looking for, so I improvised.”</p><p>Dick rolled up to his feet without using his hands. “What phra-”</p><p>“Get a room!” Barbara shouted from further down the beach.</p><p>Wally whirled around, pointing at her across the sand. “That’s it! You’re officially uninvited to the Ginger Revolution when we take over the team!” he shouted. When Tula laughed again, he turned back around and mock-glared at her. “And you’re on thin ice, missy.”</p><p>Tula frowned with a slight tilt of her head. “What is a Ginger?”</p><p>“You are,” Dick laughed. “It’s a land thing, I guess. People who have red hair.”</p><p>“It sounds as if someone should have paid more attention in her Surface Lessons,” Kaldur commented.</p><p>Tula turned on him, only enraged more by Garth’s laughter at her expense. Wally wasn’t quite sure what the history was between the three Atlanteans, but he was fairly sure she and Garth used to date. Whether or not that had ended, they still seemed to be on good terms - good enough for Tula to include both him and Kaldur in a wave summoned up from the tide. Dick and Wally had the good sense to run out of the way before they were dragged out into the ocean, as the aforementioned water fight began.</p><p>Laughing as he came to a jogging stop once they were a safe distance, Dick turned his grin to Wally. “Probably a good call,” he pushed his fingers back through is hair, shaking the water out, “not getting in the middle of that.” As he looked him over properly for the first time, Dick’s brows furrowed, eyes coming to rest over the bruise on Wally’s shoulder. “That’s a nasty one. What happened?” he asked, walking backwards and in front of Wally to brush his hand over the discoloured skin.</p><p>Wally caught Dick’s hand, using it as leverage to tug him around and against his side as they walked. “Quick showdown in Central before I got here. Tar Pit got loose. I got... thrown off my feet. It’s fine, doesn’t even hurt anymore,” he said. It was mostly true, to his credit, only leaving out the more specific details. It really didn’t hurt too bad anymore, his body mending the broken skin in what should have taken days in a matter of hours. Just sore, at that point, and Wally was all too eager to ignore it entirely. Dick didn’t seem to feel the same, but as Wally slung his arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his head, there was no further pressing the matter.</p><p>The two of them walked further up the beach to where Dick had been sitting before he’d so rudely sexualized his boyfriend - and really, how dare he. Dick flopped back onto his towel, arms spread wide with a grin on his face as he closed his eyes into the sun. He only peaked them open again when Wally moved to stand in front of him, his shadow falling over his boyfriend’s body. Dick was quickly starting to catch up to him in height, though Wally still had a good few inches on him, something he’d lord over him for as long as he could. Just a month ago, he’d been hanging out at the Manor with him, and had mentioned teasingly that he must take after Bruce in height - a slip he didn’t realize he’d made until the moment after the words left his tongue. Dick had just looked up at him, sprawled over his lap as they watched a movie neither of them had been paying attention to. He’d raised a brow at him, and Wally’s brain had short-circuited at just how badly he’d fucked up.</p><p>
  <em>“Babe, I’m sorry, I-” Forgot that Dick was orphaned under traumatic circumstances and that Bruce was not actually his biological dad. Looking at the similarities between the two of them, it was almost difficult to remember.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dick had shaken his head, though he sank lower into the couch, and averted his gaze back to the projected screen. “It’s fine,” he’d said as he reached over and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl at Wally’s side. “Maybe it’s something Alfred’s feeding us,” he’d glanced back up at him with a grin. “For the record; I think my Dad was around 5’9”. Not too impressive. Gymnast thing, I guess.” Dick had flicked a piece of popcorn at Wally’s nose. “What’s in the cards for you?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Old man’s 6’ 0”, I think.”</em>
</p><p>Wally had decided then that he didn’t want to think much more about either of them taking after their fathers.</p><p>Standing over Dick now, as he smiled back up at him, he still wasn’t entirely convinced that his boyfriend would outgrow him. It’d become a bit of a playful teasing point, with Dick constantly trying to measure the two of them back to back, even if it wasn’t that close yet. Wally shifted down and sprawled out next to Dick with the specific intention of continuing to boast, only for the mirth to be replaced by suspicious when he noticed Dick holding back laughter. “What?” he asked.</p><p>“Dude,” Dick poked his bicep. “You’re burnt already.”</p><p>Sure enough, Dick’s fingertip left a white dot behind in the midst of bright red skin. Wally groaned and rolled over to bury his face in the towel, as Dick caught a bottle of sunblock tossed to him by Barbara.</p><p>The evening went on, dripping into golden hours reflecting on the water. Wally spent less an less time worrying about what had happened earlier that day, the bruise on his shoulder slowly vanishing and taking his torrid thoughts of what had happened in Central along with it. It was easier this way. Easier to forget the million other things on his mind when he was surrounded by his friends and teammates - because he knew that they were doing the exact same thing. That was the comforting necessity of being on a team like this, with the few people his age on this planet that had problems of similar gravity on their backs. They knew, they understood, and though they no doubt all had their own turmoil, together it all just sort of... cancelled out. In the strangest and best way possible. They could get a taste of being a normal teenager around each other, with absolutely nothing to hide.</p><p>Being normal - like sneaking a beer on the beach and having water fights and threatening to leave his boyfriend forever if he draws a penis in the sunscreen on his back. The team was growing every year, double in size now from their little core six that first summer. Somehow, Wally could never imagine how they could possibly grow any more, how there could be any more misfits like them in the world, and even then, how a newcomer could fit into their dynamic. Yet, every single time, he was proven wrong. Couldn’t be happier for it, really.</p><p>It was unbearably corny, but still true; he’d never really thought he would find a place he belonged. He couldn’t imagine a life outside of these people now. How could he deny that to anyone else?</p><p>Still, there was no denying that he’d always feel just a little closer to the first friends he’d made on this team. It was just a matter of the time they’d spent together, the traditions they’d built over the years.</p><p>Speaking of.</p><p>Wally had been content getting his legs buried in the sand by Raquel and Zatanna when he saw Conner jogging down the path from the Cave with a football tucked under his arm. Barbara, Dick, and Artemis were in a backflipping contest behind them, and the Kryptonian clone stopped just before Artemis’ path as she flipped past him. Raising an arm to shield himself from the spray of sand, he continued on toward Wally and tossed the ball to him. “How about it?”</p><p>Though Raquel and Zatanna were less than pleased with Wally ruining their work as he leaned over and broke up the sand, he still managed to catch it. Flashing an apologetic grin to the girls, and rose to his feet with the ball now tucked under his arm, and dusted the sand off his legs. “Hey, Megalicious!” he called to the Martian, rousing a groan out of everyone within earshot. Totally worth it for the glare he got from both Conner <em>and</em> Dick. M’gann rolled her eyes, but gave him her attention. “How much clearance do we got?”</p><p>M’gann brought her fingers up to her temples, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, there was a flash of residual green light. “You’re clear for the whole beach up until the corner by the rocks. No civilians on the other side of the mountain.”</p><p>“Perfect,” Wally grinned as he tossed the football back to Conner. As the two of them too their paces away from each other, he watched from the corners of his eyes as Barbara leaned over to Dick.</p><p>“What’s the clearance for?” she asked.</p><p>Dick shrugged, propping an elbow over his shoulder. “They’re just playing some catch,” he replied. “Their way.”</p><p>Conner winded back, cueing Wally to take up a stance as the Super threw the football with all of his strength. The moment the football left his fingers, Wally took off running down the beach, chasing the veritable missile at top speed until he caught up to it on the far end of the shoreline. He was far out of view of the rest of the team here, and still with plenty of cleared space to maneuver. For his turn, he took a running start to build up momentum in compensation for strength and lobbed it as far as he could. It ended up going higher than it did long, but it was no problem to Conner, who easily launched himself into the air to catch it. The two of them had figured out a few summers ago that a regular game of “Catch” just didn’t do it for them.</p><p>So, this was their alternative. The two of them unleashed for a while, trading taunts and trying to throw the other off, as the others pretended it was entirely normal and only complained when they sprayed sand at them. It wasn’t even enough to break a sweat, but it was <em>fun</em>, and really all Wally had on his mind.</p><p>Which made it all the more frustrating when the pain hit. There was no warning this time - no slow building ache or shocks of electricity jolting through his chest. Wally was running, eyes on the ball in the sky as it sailed toward him, and then suddenly, he was crashing. <em>Plowing</em> into the sand without brakes to slow down. His vision went white, an excruciating voltage surging through his chest. His legs gave out from underneath him, his own force working against him as he rolled and tumbled. The world spun and twisted around him in what bare flashes he could see - and then it stopped. Wally felt a blunt, searing pain in the back of his head, and just like that his vision went from white to black.</p><p>He hadn’t even realised he’d closed his eyes until he was opening them again, the sun’s too-bright light burning into his retinas. Wally tried to right himself, pushing up on his forearms, only to wince when a sharp pain flared in the back of his head. He managed to push himself up against the rock he’d crashed into, though from the looks of it he’d skidded pretty far across the sand to slow down before he’d ended up here. The tracks he’d left were already being softened by the lapping tide. Wally reached up to the back of his head, flinching as fingertips brushed the sore spot. As he retracted his hand, his fingers were dripping with a blood - not much, but more than he’d like outside his body. “Great...” he groaned.</p><p>A shadow blocked out the sun, growing larger as Conner leapt towards him, landing in the sand a few safe feet back. “Wally, what the hell happened?” he asked as he knelt down in front of his friends. “I saw you crash. Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Wally grunted as he pushed himself up to his feet. Conner jumped up along with him, arms out like he was expecting Wally to topple over at any second, “Just peachy.” Wally waved off the offered hand, already stumbling toward the water’s edge to wash the blood off his fingers. He could still feel the blood trickling down the back of his neck, and so he cupped a bit of water and splashed it over his head, biting back another groan at the sting of salt water. “Did the others see?”</p><p>“No,” Conner replied, still eyeing him warily. “I was the only one who could see this far.”</p><p>Wally nodded, rolling his shoulders back as he stood upright, convincing himself he wasn’t a little dizzy. His skin was still raw from the sand, but it had been soft enough to cushion him, and there were no other outward signs of the incident. Conner stooped down to pick up the forgotten football, a few feet out in the water and in danger of being carried away. “Listen, there’s no need to tell Dick - or anyone about this, right?”</p><p>Conner fixed him with a signature glare as he walked out of the water. “Wally, this is serious.”</p><p>“I just tripped,” Wally rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I <em>saw</em> you,” Conner repeated. “That wasn’t just <em>tripping</em>.”</p><p>“It’s no big deal, alright? Look, I’m barely bleeding anymore,” Wally huffed, lifting his hand to the back of his head. Sure enough, it came back clean - relatively, anyway. It mostly came back wet, with a slight pink tint against his skin, but he was quick to wipe it against his swim trunks. “Just a scrape.” Before Conner could continue to argue, which he no doubt would have, Wally swiped the football from him and tossed it between his hands. “I’ll race ya back to the others.”</p><p>And he did - for the most part. Wally may have been trying to downplay the whole event, but he still ran at a moderate pace back to their little corner of the beach. Barely more than a jog for him. Still, without that headstart he gained from Conner glaring a whole into his back, he doubted he would have one that wager. As it was, he barely jogged to a stop before Conner came bounding in behind him. Wally tossed the football back to him, walking backwards to fix him with a final, pleading look, before turning back to the group. They’d all relocated to the inlet further up the beach, setting up a space for a firepit.</p><p>“Took you two long enough,” M’gann smiled as her boyfriend approached. It only took a moment for her to realise something was off. “Everything alright?”</p><p>“Someone’s just a sore loser,” Wally grinned as he past her, heading straight over to his backpack. He watched, trying not to make it too obvious, as Conner glanced between him and M’gann for a moment before simply shrugging at his girlfriend’s inquisitive look. Thankfully, she didn’t pry, buying it enough to laugh and usher Conner off to help her gather firewood. Wally just barely kept himself from sighing out loud in relief. Swiping a water bottle from his backpack, he popped the mouthpiece and sprayed it over his head, shaking his fingers through his hair. He tossed it back into the back, trading its place for a black snapback. Slipping it on backwards was only uncomfortable for a few moments against the throbbing nick on the back of his head, but at least it’d hide it without suspicion. He only felt one more trickle down the back of his neck, quickly wiped away, before it did the trick.</p><p>So, that was it. Wally did his best to forget about it, and unfortunate theme of the day even if he seemed to be getting pretty good at it. He helped rearrange the towels and gather the driftwood and kindling, until before he knew it, it was past nightfall and they had a roaring bonfire on the beach. The sky was clear, moonlight reflecting bright off the water as the roaring waves continued to crash ceaselessly onto the sand. Wally ended up in a hoodie as the night grew colder. Coincidentally, so did Dick - only it was one of <em>his, </em>mercilessly stolen from his room inside the Cave. Wally was, however, far from complaining with his boyfriend all cozied up against him, stretched back between his legs with his head on his chest. Wally’s arm found its natural position wrapped around Dick, the two of them sharing a vodka soda that tasted like blue-flavoured freezy (and yes, it was <em>blue flavoured, </em>they had a lengthy discussion on how a colour couldn’t be a flavour but there was no other accurate way to describe the taste).</p><p>M’gann and the Atlanteans, for all they appreciated the aesthetic and general warmth of the bonfire, preferred to enjoy it at a reasonable distance, and so took the spots closest to the mouth of their little inlet, where the others were shielded from the wind and the cool spray of the ocean. The rest of the team was scattered around on layers of towels. Roy had dipped a little earlier (something that didn’t go unnoticed by Artemis, who was still clearly weirded out by whatever was going on between him and her sister). Conveniently, he’d forgotten to bring his cooler with him - and it’d just be a bitty if they let the drinks inside get warm. Make no mistake, they weren’t being idiots about it, not drinking for the sake of getting drunk - but damn if they could be allowed to save the world every other week, and not engage in a healthy bit of lawbreaking. At least, that was how teenage logic dictated it. Besides, they had adult supervision. M’gann was over fifty years old.</p><p>That particular topic launched into a discussion of age in the group. Despite having Barbara in their ranks now, being in the same year as Dick and Zatanna, it was determined that Dick was still the <em>baby</em> of the team with his December birthday. He’d graciously flipped them all of and insisted in an age-old debate that it was <em>technically</em> Conner, at the Pod-ripe age of three. This then lead to an argument about physiological age, and then mental age, with Dick proclaiming that he was <em>at least</em> thirty in mental years, and the rest of the Team trying to determine an arbitrary scale to measure that with. In general, it was determined that the mean age of the team, excluding M’gann and Conner as outliers, was seventeen.</p><p>Wally engaged with the others, was having a blast doing it to, but still there was no denying that he was quieter than usual that night. No one brought it up - or if anyone had tried to indicate it, he hadn’t noticed. For now, his mind wasn’t weighed down with thoughts of school and home and a disconcerting glitch in his powers. For now, he was far too preoccupied with Dick’s solid weight and warmth, the way he could feel him laugh, and the tickle of his black hair whenever he moved his head and it brushed against his jaw. The night was dark and cool, the breeze soft as it rolled in off the water. His head was pleasantly light and his veins buzzing. The scent of sweet smoke and the sound of crackling driftwood was a soothing rumble beneath the voices of his friends. And Dick was cuddled up at his side, sure as anything. This was a moment he could freeze forever.</p><p>Momentarily lost in his own world, Wally nearly didn’t notice when Artemis cleared her throat and grabbed a wrinkled sheet of paper out of her backpack, waving it in the air for her friends to see. “While I have your attention,” she began with a grandiose gesture. “It’s official. Your girl’s going to California.”</p><p>Wally’s stomach plummeted when he saw the emblem of Stanford University in the firelight. The cheers and congratulations of his friends slipped away, no louder nor quieter than the constant noise of the fire and the ocean. Artemis deserved this. She <em>really</em> did, she’d worked her ass off for it, but there was still that little envious gnawing at the back of Wally’s mind that he couldn’t quite hush. She grinned across the flames at him, the amber light glowing on her proud face. “What about you, Baywatch? How many stupid Greek Letter parties are we going to be crashing? I’m absolutely <em>not</em> rooming with you, we’ll kill each other, but first years are usually quartered off together.”</p><p>It took a moment for Wally to find his voice, feeling the eyes of his friends burning into his skin hotter than even the flames could manage. “I, uh...” he floundered, keeping his eyes on the embers, “I... never got a letter back from Stanford.”</p><p>Dick frowned, tilting his head back to look up at Wally. “What?”</p><p>“I never got a letter back,” Wally repeated with a shrug. “They’re probably just... full for the year or something, I don’t know. I didn’t just make the cut.”</p><p>“No, that doesn’t make any sense,” Dick insisted. He shifted off of Wally to sit up at his side, twisting to face him. “Wally, you’re a <em>science prodigy</em>, you should have your pick of any University in the <em>world</em>. There’s no way-”</p><p>“Well, I just <em>didn’t, </em>okay?!” Wally snapped. Dick recoiled. The Team went quiet. It was only a spare second before the guilt was slamming into Wally for ruining what should have been Artemis’ moment <em>and</em> losing his temper at Dick. He reached up to fidget with his hat. “Sorry,” he sighed. “Just a bummer, I’ll get over it. Congrats, Arty.”</p><p>“Yeah... thanks,” Artemis replied as she put the letter away. Zatanna shifted a little closer to her side. “I’m, uh...sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.”</p><p>Wally was quick to brush it off, eager to move on from the smothering tension. “It’s cool. M’gann,” he turned to the Martian, half pleading with his eyes to save him, “you said you had stuff for s’mores?”</p><p>M’gann, like the rest of the team, shared that sentiment and jumped at the opportunity to change the subject. The rest of the team with the exception of Dick. The acrobat was still watching him carefully, sharp blue eyes honed in - there was no fooling him. Wally met his gaze for a long moment before slinging his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulder and coaxing him against his side, pressing his lips to Dick’s cheek in silent apology. It was silently accepted just the same, Dick taking up his previous position and sinking back against him. Dick took his turn first in roasting a marshmallow for a s’more, a pitiful failure that was met with the <em>boo’s</em> of their teammates as it caught on fire and fell in a pile of mush straight onto the logs. Wally had only a little more success, achieving an acceptable char and handing it off to Dick for s’more assembly. As Dick lifted the treat up for Wally to take the first bite, Wally made a show of nearly biting Dick’s fingers with it, just to make him laugh.</p><p>And the night continued until the fire died down and they all packed up to head back to the Cave. And the ocean kept crashing and crashing against the shore. And though Wally kept smiling and laughing with his friends, it wasn’t quite enough to keep him from feeling like he was doing the same.</p><p>Just crashing.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
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        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Time Will Tell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is mostly going to be me talking about my life at the moment, so if you're not into continue on doowwnn. </p><p>But yeah! Hi. Not sure if anyone's noticed but it's, uuhhh... taken a while to get this out. To be honest, this fic has been a huge mental block for me, and in general this summer's been a little weird to say the least. I think part of it is that I've been sitting in this hole, digging it deeper and deeper, berating myself for not being more "productive" with all the time I've had off during the pandemic. That only ever made it worse until I started resenting this story altogether. I sort of fell out of love with it - with a lot of things for that matter. </p><p>I'm doing somewhat better now! However, I'm also starting Grad School for creative writing next week. I'm gonna be honest here, it's probably going to take a while to finish this fic, and then I'm likely going to be taking a break for a while. I haven't written much for this series this year, and I feel bad about it, but I'm starting to be a little more forgiving with myself. I just want to say now, that if I ever slow down and it seems like I've forgotten about this series, I haven't. I don't really think I could. It's too close to me. But I've learned that some time away is good, and only ever reminds me how much I love it. </p><p>Ironically, being in this funk has helped me reconnect emotionally to this story.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Their clothes still smelled of sweet smoke and ocean water when they stumbled their way back into the Cave that night. The coals of the fire had been burning down to dull embers, glowing in the blackened sand, when the Team had decided to pack it up for the night. The night was growing colder, and bugs were out, and more than a few of them were beginning to muffle yawns into the sleeves of their sweaters. With their sandy towels slung over their shoulders, and their arms full of beach balls, umbrellas, and bags, the trope of teenagers hiked their way back up to the Cave. With tired goodnights, they began to scatter, some back to the Zetabeams, some to their rooms, some to the kitchen where Artemis and M’gann had decided that the middle of the night was the <em>perfect</em> time to bake brownies. Zatanna had every intention of staying up with them, but hadn’t lasted ten minutes before she’d fallen asleep on the couch.</p><p>Dick and Wally were just making their way inside when they passed Conner carrying their resident witch to her bed. Looking back at Dick, Wally flashed him a grin and disappeared from his side, running to the bowl of brownie batter on the counter and sticking a finger in before anyone could stop him. Artemis made a loud noise of disgust and threw the empty box at his head. </p><p>“Don’t be <em>gross!”</em> Artemis protested from where she was sitting on the edge of the counter. </p><p>Wally only smirked and made a show of licking the batter of his finger. “Everyone <em>knows </em>eating the batter is the best part of baking anything.” </p><p>“Yeah, maybe if you want salmonella, you freak,” Artemis rolled her eyes. </p><p>Popping his finger out of his mouth, Wally then used it to finger-gun at her. “Worth it.” Artemis made a face, and Wally was more than happy to take that as a victory. There was that lingering twinge in his chest, that longing for the fun they could have had together at Stanford, but he was quick to push it aside. Dick swiped his finger at the corner of his lips, where he’d missed a bit of the batter, and licked it off. Without a hint of irony, Wally raised a brow at him. “Dude, <em>that’s</em> gross.”</p><p>“Oh yeah?” Dick smirked, before surging up and full-on licking the side of his face in retaliation. Wally sputtered and pushed him off, rubbing his cheek with the sleeve of his sweater, but even then couldn’t keep from laughing along with Dick. The quiet of the rest of the cave was overpowering, an almost oppressive force keeping their voices to a stage whisper even though there wasn’t a change their sleeping teammates could hear them. It resulted in a snicker that had Dick’s voice almost cracking, his face still flushed and red with the drinks they’d shared.</p><p>“Hey,” M’gann smacked Dick with the edge of her dishtowel, even as she laughed with them. “This is a PG kitchen.”</p><p>Dick stole the towel from her grasp with a flourish, holding it high above his head. “Can we compromise on PG13?”</p><p>“Only if you stop acting like a twelve-year-old,” M’gann countered. Dick was just barely an inch taller than her now, a fact he often tried to Lord over her, but it didn’t seem to hold any merit at the moment. Not when the towel flew out of Dick’s hand and right back into the Martian’s awaiting palm.</p><p>Wally slung his arm around Dick’s shoulders. “You didn’t know him when he was twelve,” he said. “He was worse.”</p><p>“Hard to believe,” Artemis smirked.</p><p>Dick looked up at his boyfriend accusingly. “I didn’t come here to get roasted.”</p><p>“No,” Artemis countered before Wally could, “your marshmallows did that for you.”</p><p>Wally could <em>hardly </em>be faulted for snorting at that, but Dick didn’t seem to agree, nudging him in the side with his elbow. “You’re not helping,” he accused.</p><p>“Never said I was here to help,” Wally replied, barely able to get the words out before Dick was trying halfheartedly to wiggle himself away. Wally only hooked his arm tighter around him.</p><p>Their impromptu wrestling went no further before Conner was coming back down the hall toward the kitchen. Artemis perked up a bit, legs swinging off the edge of the counter, as he entered. “Zee’s still sleeping?”</p><p>“I don’t think she ever noticed I moved her,” Conner answered. “She didn’t even budge. I had to make sure she was still breathing.”</p><p>Artemis gave an adoring little pout. “Yeah, she sleeps like a kitten when she’s out like that.”</p><p>M’gann looked at the blonde for all of two seconds before shaking her head with a quiet laugh. “If you want to go join her, I’ll bring you a brownie when they’re done.”</p><p>Faking a pitiful little sniff, Artemis nodded. “Okay,” she deepened her pout, holding it for all of five seconds to make M’gann roll her eyes before laughing and hopping off the edge of the counter. Wally, just as she was about to leave the kitchen, took the opportunity to make a whipping noise, with the hand motion and all. </p><p>Artemis made a face, swiping a handful of empty eggshells from the goopy mess on the counter and chucking them at Wally. Before M’gann could protest, she threw them at Wally, who only grinned wider as he made to dodge the assault. Wally sped up, not quite running, but allowing time to slow down around him in order to dodge Artemis’ assault. He felt the energy crackling around him, that familiar vibration of the speed force thrumming through his body, as he watched the offending shells pause in mid-air. His friends did the same around him, freezing mid stance, mid-sentence, mid breath. Wally smirked to himself as he shifted out of the way. </p><p>It was just a step. Just one step to the side, as he’d done a thousand times before. The moment his foot hit the ground, Wally’s leg came down with it. It was as if every muscle in his right calf was electrocuted and rendered useless, his thigh following until he was careening helplessly to the side. Time caught up, slamming back into his body with enough force to leave him breathless. Wally just barely caught himself on the edge of the counter, throwing his elbow up onto the granite just to keep himself from completely falling over. </p><p>His ears were ringing in the aftermath, head too light and too heavy all at once. He barely heard the crunch of the eggshells harmlessly flying against someone’s head behind him, and the coursing laughter and confusion of his friends. Wally gritted his teeth, struggling for a moment to pull himself upright, before he felt a pair of strong hands on his biceps steadying him against the countertop. Wally looked up to find Conner staring at him with that permanent scowl turned just a shade darker. Apparently he wasn’t willing to forget what happened at the beach. Wally shrugged out of his hold and stood upright on his own, leaning against the counter as casually as possibly. Though Conner still seemed reluctant, he stepped back. </p><p>“Whoa, you okay?” Dick asked as he picked the eggshells out of his hair.</p><p>Wally cringed as he looked over his shoulder to find that his boyfriend was the victim in his place. “Yeah,” he grunted. “Just slipped.” </p><p>“Maybe someone’s had a little too much to drink?” Conner frowned, arms crossed over his broad chest.</p><p>Glaring right back at the Kryptonian, Wally answered too quickly. “No,” he bit out, only to taste the bitterness on his tongue the second he sunk his teeth into the denial. Too close to home. Conner didn’t know that. Fuck, he was being the asshole again. Rolling his shoulders back,Wally tried to recover, shifting to lean backwards against the counter, arms braced behind him. “I mean, s’gonna take a lot more than that to get to me,” he tried again. “Felt like a bit of egg on the floor, anyway. I would’ve thought <em>someone</em> had better aim into the bowl,” Wally added with a grin at Artemis. Met with the blonde sticking her tongue out at him as she walked away, Wally took the moment to look over at Conner with silent, imploring eyes. He wasn’t all that good at communication on a good day, not even aloud, but he tried to convey both his apology and his plea to keep what he’d seen to himself.</p><p>Conner made absolutely no indication that he understood. Wally reminded himself to never play poker against him.</p><p>“C’mon,” Dick laughed as he flicked the last little piece of eggshell at Wally, hooking his arm in his. “If we stay any longer we’re going to get Brownie Banned.”</p><p>“A fate worse than death,” Wally agreed, raising his brows down at his boyfriend. Hiking his backpack over his shoulder, he nudged him with his elbow. “Lead the way, boy wonder.”</p><p>If Dick’s face was red, he didn’t seem to notice. His smile was bright and his cheeks flushed as he tugged on Wally’s arm and pulled him insistently down the hall. Wally suddenly doubted, with his heart leaping right up into his throat, that they were coming back for brownies at all that night. He laughed as he stumbled along with Dick, the two of them tripping over each other more than anything, not out of uncoordination but rather the fact that they couldn’t seem to stay more than an inch apart. They made their way down the dark, featureless halls of the cave, into the living quarters. Here, Mount Justice looked a bit more lived-in. They’d all taken to posting their names on their doors, as if any of them would forget which was theirs (something they joked about often, but to be honest, the corridor was so uniform that it could be easy to get confused if you weren’t paying attention).</p><p>(And they weren’t.)</p><p>Dick dragged him against one of the doors, arms around his shoulders as he pulled him down into a kiss. Wally, for his part, didn’t question it for a moment - obviously, there were <em>much </em>more important things on his mind. Hands sliding down to Dick’s hips, he practically pinned him against the door, grinning into his boyfriend’s mouth. There he lingered to swallow a laugh whole, feeling it settle like gold in the pit of his stomach. Dick’s laughter soon after turned into a breathy sigh as Wally grazed his teeth over his jaw, nibbling his way just below his ear. Reaching into Wally’s sweater pocket, Dick took out the access card to his room, and halfheartedly tried to press it to the sensor beside the door. Idiots that they were, neither of them seemed to notice the beeping and the faint red light until the third time Dick fumbled with the card.</p><p>Something that sounded suspiciously like a shoe slammed into the door, just moments before Artemis shouted at them to go away. Wally peeled himself off of Dick to look up at the door in the dim light. Sure enough, the archer’s name was printed onto a piece of green scrapbook paper and covered in deer, moons, and arrows, all haphazardly scotch taped-onto the door. Dick, noticing the same thing as he craned his head back to look, smothered more laughter into Wally’s shoulder, muttering an “oops” under his breath. He tugged Wally away before they could further invoke her wrath.</p><p>Attempt two to get into Wally’s room was met with more success. Just down the hall, his door was adorned with his name in foam block letters he got from the dollar store. Dick had rearranged the letters to spell “YAM” with the L’s underlining it last week, and now they wouldn’t still right. Currently, his door said “WA” with the remaining letters fallen on the floor. Wally didn’t even bother picking them up, even as Dick burst into another laughing fit, playfully shoving and nudging his boyfriend inside until he could shut the door. The “Y” had fallen between the door gap and lay at their feet. Dick, being the weirdo that he was, nearly lost it, while Wally grinned and rolled his eyes, poking and prodding until he got his attention enough to kiss him again. Still laughing between each other, the two of them gradually picked up where they had started off. Walking backwards, Wally nearly tripped over a shirt he’d tossed on the floor earlier. His backpack fell off his shoulder without grace, as the back of his knees hit the edge of the mattress. Falling back, he was soon met with a lapful of Robin as Dick climbed onto him. He slotted his legs comfortably on either side of his lap, arms draped lazily over his shoulders.</p><p>Wally only had a moment to stare up at him. There were no windows in Mount Justice. None in the living quarters, anyway. The only light came from the analog alarm clock sitting on Wally’s bedside table, and the glow of an ancient lava lamp he’d gotten from a yard sale. The contrasting colours played out over Dick’s face in soft hues, melting between florescent blue and shifting pink and orange. His eyes were striking in the dark, lit up like stars on a clear night, and - fuck, Wally didn’t even feel as cheesy as he should for thinking that. Dick had always been attractive, but over the past two years, slowly he’d changed from that boyish charm to nothing short of stunning. The kind of easy allure that had his blood running hot and pooling in the pit of his belly. Dark hair fell tousled over his face, and Dick raised a dark brow with a bright smile as he stared back at Wally. They’d both changed. Everything was changing.</p><p>Even Wally found sometimes he couldn’t keep up.</p><p>He surged up to kiss him, just as Dick was leaning down, and their nose bumped a little awkwardly in their eagerness. They both laughed through it, tilting their heads and falling into an easy rhythm. Dick wound his arms tighter around Wally’s shoulders, pressing them hard chest to chest until Wally could feel every swell of his lungs. He settled his hands on Dick’s hips, tentatively at first, until Dick sighed and relaxed into the touch. Growing bolder with every pass of Dick’s lips, Wally once against trailed his kisses down his boyfriend’s jaw, this time making it to his neck without incident. Dick shuddered, head falling to the side. Wally grinned against the soft skin of his neck, teeth and all just to make Dick laugh, before that laugh was drawn out into a breathy sigh as he gently nipped at him. Feeling emboldened, Wally slipped his fingertips underneath the hem of Dick’s sweater, followed by his palms when Dick welcomed it.</p><p>It wasn’t the scant traces of alcohol, or the day spent in the sun, or some heady atmosphere settling over the dark room. It was just the two of them - making out like teenagers were wont to do. Wally just couldn’t get enough of holding Dick like this, being the reason he sighed and moaned softly in his ear, the reason he felt good. Dick should always feel good, he thought. He should always feel loved.</p><p>Only when he was satisfied that he’d left enough hickies to warrant some whining and grumbling about hiding the marks in the morning did Wally pull away from Dick’s neck. The second he did, Dick’s fingers were in his hair, curling against his roots with a light tug as he guided Wally back to his mouth. Wally happily obliged, his hands smoothing over Dick’s hips and to the small of his back. Slowly they ventured lower, and lower, until Wally was groping his ass over his jeans without really realizing it. Dick pushed harder into the kiss, eager and demanding in the best possible way. He rocked his hips against Wally’s - and in that moment, he became aware of a few things.</p><ol>
<li>He was very hard.</li>
<li>So was Dick.</li>
<li>Holy shit.</li>
</ol><p>Wally groaned, pulling away from the kiss to shove his face into Dick’s shoulder. Okay, so this kind of... situation wasn’t exactly new to them. Be realistic here. They were teenage boys who had been dating for two years. Granted, in the first year they dated, they kissed and occasionally cuddled and mostly just kept it to that. Not out of a conscious effort, either, it was just... y’know, <em>it</em>. Three months in, Wally would still blush when Dick held his hand. Things hadn’t really started to change until after Wally was outed last year. Slowly, they’d gone form just kissing to like... making out. Like making out to the point that Black Canary had walked in on them on the couch and told them bluntly to “come up for air, you two.” And even that had been more than enough for the past year, but in the past few months he found that he just... didn’t want to stop. That Dick didn’t, either. Sometimes they’d get a little too heated and awkwardly end up peeling themselves off each other to cool down, trying to pretend they weren’t all hot and bothered, or making excuses to leave the room. Damn, it all sounded like something out of a high school health class textbook, but it was true, and it was driving Wally crazy.</p><p>But they’d never exactly... <em>done</em> anything. This was all still relatively uncharted territory.</p><p>So, to reiterate - holy <em>shit</em>.</p><p>He felt Dick loosen his grip on his hair, trying to force his breathing to go even. “I- sorry, I didn’t mean-”</p><p>“Don’t,” Wally mumbled into his sweatshirt.</p><p>Dick shifted, leaning back to move off Wally’s lap. “Uh... here, I’ll-”</p><p>“No, I mean...” Wally tightened his hold, “don’t.”</p><p>The only reason Wally noticed Dick’s heart skipped and his breathing stuttered was because his face was still glued into his shoulder. For a moment, he was afraid he’d overstepped, that Dick was uncomfortable and trying to leave, but he didn’t have the chance to stammer out his own apology before Dick was holding his face and kissing the hell out of him - <em>very much</em> still grinding into his lap. Right. So, they were in agreement.<em> Cool. Cool? Yeah. Fuck, stop thinking so much.</em></p><p>Trying to grasp at the bravado he’d had just minutes before, Wally wound his arm around Dick’s waist and spun him down onto the bed. The second Dick’s back hit the mattress, he broke away laughing, his hair a mess in his face. Wally grinned down at him, before settling over the slighter hero and picking up that kiss where they left off. Dick’s legs had sort of ended up around his waist and they just kinda... stayed like that. Grinding against each other through their clothes until Wally couldn’t think straight.</p><p>A sharp buzzing noise cut through the room from somewhere on the floor. Wally jumped a bit at the sudden intrusion, but Dick was just as quickly grumbling for his attention, fingertips scraping over the back of his neck. Right, priorities. Glad to forget the interruption, Wally shifted his focus back to his boyfriend’s flushed face and swollen lips. He’d barely taken them back when the buzzing died off, only to start up again three seconds later. Wally growled in frustration, propping himself up on his elbows this time, much to Dick’s disapproval. Just below the sound of the buzzing was a tone he couldn’t quite make out over the rumbling of - fabric?</p><p>Wally shot upright, scrambling off the bed with a muttered “Shit!” as he reached for his backpack. His father’s ringtone was loud and clear now as he ripped it open and fumbled around for his phone. Falling back on his haunched, Wally’s back hit the side of the bed. He pushed his hand back through his hair, ignoring the light layer of sweat on his forehead as he tried desperately to make his voice sound normal - like he hadn’t had a cider and a half, and had just been caught in the middle of getting a little steamy with his boyfriend. His Dad never called in the middle of the night for anything good - not that he really called anytime for anything good, but ignoring him would only make it worse.</p><p>“Hello? Dad?” he said, desperately evening his breathing so he wouldn’t be given away... if that were even a possibility.</p><p>“Where the fuck are you?!” The slant in Rudolph’s voice was glaringly obvious, even through the phone. Wally could hear his father’s heavy footsteps, probably stomping around in the living room, an unsteady cadence that gave way to staggering over his own feet.</p><p>Wally felt his ear burn where his father’s slurring voice assaulted it, felt it pour into his head and scorch his skull. He drew a knee up against his chest, propping his elbow on it as he scrubbed his hand over his forehead. “Dad, I already told you, I-”</p><p>“Lose the fucking attitude,” Rudolph snarled. “Your mother cooked dinner for you and ate by herself. When’re you gonna stop acting like an ungrateful asshole, huh?! She made- n’sat here all night by herself n’you left!”</p><p>Whether or not Dick heard the words, he heard the shouting. Wally couldn’t see him, didn’t turn to look, but he could feel the mattress creek and dip and Dick pushed himself up and moved toward him. “Wally? You okay?” he whispered. His voice just barely broke the sound of Rudolph’s shouting.</p><p>Wally nodded, waving his hand dismissively over his shoulder. His head tilted back against the mattress, eyes staring up at the shift and phaze of the lava lamp’s glow on the ceiling. There was no rationalizing with his dad like this. There was no point in arguing that he’d made these plans a week ago, and that his father had gone off to drink with his friends regardless, that no matter what he did or said nothing ever seemed to get through to either him or his mother. Wally would just rather save his breath. So, he sat there, not really listening to the nonsensical tirade Rudolph had launched on, muttering “alright” and “sorry” until they didn’t sound like real words anymore.</p><p>At some point, and Wally honestly didn’t notice when, his dad hung up. His voice was still ringing in his ears long after the line went dead. It was only when Dick’s fingers brushed over his that he let go of his cell, letting his boyfriend hand up and set it on the nightstand. “Hey,” Dick murmured, setting his hand tentatively on Wally’s shoulder. Wally just reached up and rested his own over it. He closed his eyes, exhaling out his nose, mood effectively ruined. After a moment, Dick curled his fingers into his hoodie with a light tug. “C’mere.”</p><p>Any heat they’d had before was long gone. Even the sheets felt cooler as Wally climbed up onto the bed and into his boyfriend’s waiting arms. Dick moved back against the pillow, haphazardly pulling the duvet over them as Wally settled in against him. Drawing Wally’s head onto his shoulder, Dick wrapped his arms around him. When his hand slipped under Wally’s shirt, it was with a gentle caress and open palm, rubbing soothing circles along his spine. Wally sighed, and focused all his attention down to the pinpoint of Dick’s heartbeat, his breath in his ear, the solid warmth of him. Slowly, the residual echos of his father’s voice faded from his ears, and the room was left quiet.</p><p> </p><p>.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.</p><p> </p><p>By the seventh round, Wally knew what to expect.</p><p>The track bled past him, a smear of colours and shapes he couldn’t parse out one from the other. He kept tight on the turns, leaning into them with practiced skill. Wally did not have to think about what he was doing or where he was going. He operated on autopilot, his sole focus honing in on pushing himself faster. He’d run this track a thousand times before, through training and his first days with his powers. And with all that experience, all that muscle memory, he knew that this time felt <em>different </em>in so many ways aside from the obvious. He felt it the moment he started that morning, stepping out of the sterile change rooms in a white, full-body leotard all decked out in blue bands and sensors. He’d joked to Barry as he was ushered toward the track that he just needed a tin bucket with a hole cut out on his head, and he’d look like something out of Star Trek. The scientists had <em>not</em> appreciated it as much (and even if Barry tried to cover his mouth with his hand, Wally still caught him snickering).</p><p>Still, as soon as he’d put himself into a starting position on the track, felt the faux asphalt beneath his feet, Wally knew he was off. He’d watched the light at the end of the track flicker from red to yellow and had tried to convince himself it was nothing. At the flash of green, Wally pushed off, and let the world fall away at his heels.</p><p>Now, here’s the thing. Wally’s top average speed was just shy of the speed of sound. The speed of sound is 343 meters per second, or 770 miles per hour. The olympic sized running track sitting underneath Star Labs Central City was 400 meters around. Wally’s speed was about 330 meters per second, meaning that he could complete one lap in just over a second. In a typical 20 minute run, without breaks, he could push himself to complete 1,000 laps.</p><p>Which, of course, is what Wally had in mind that afternoon. Barry had, as promised, gotten him from Mount Justice that morning, just as the remaining team members were finishing up their breakfast, and dragged his sorry ass to Star Labs. There had admittedly been a sliver of hope that his uncle would have forgotten about the incident the day before, but that obviously didn’t pan out. So, that first round, Wally had been set to dismiss his mentor’s concern, to prove that he was just <em>fine</em>.</p><p>He’d only completed 800 laps by the end of his time, and felt like he’d been run through with a lightning rod.</p><p>It was an infuriating pattern after that. Wally would push and push and <em>push</em> himself to go faster, chasing that speed that once came so easily, but each round ended in either a pitiful score or his legs giving out in a burst of agony.</p><p>Even now, as sweat beaded on his forehead to the point of ripping the sensors off his temple, and every supersonic step had his legs aching, Wally fueled that frustration into running. He forced his breathing to steady, an unfamiliar heat burning up his lungs. It was no good. What started out as sparks in his chest blew out to an all-encompassing charge that had his chest seizing in his chest. Wally’s vision went white, and before he could catch himself, his senses were overwhelmed with pain, with movement he could not keep up with, his world spinning away to pieces only to come slamming to a hault as his back hit a crash mat.</p><p>Through gritted teeth, Wally struggled to orient himself, a pitiful groan spilling through his tightened jaw. The room still felt like it was tilting on an axis around him, and before he could realize that it was <em>him</em> that was tilting, a firm hand took hold of his shoulder and kept him from slumping onto the ground.</p><p>“Kid?” Barry’s voice penetrated through the deaf ringing in his ears. “Wally? You with me?”</p><p>Wally tried to reply, but all that came out was another moan. Still, he managed to give his uncle a faint thumbs up, while he took a few moments to get his vision to clear. The moment he did, he looked over to the giant screen hooked up to the wall.</p><p>He’d lasted five minutes this time. Five minutes and only 185 laps.</p><p>At the very least, Wally tended to get back on his feet again with relative ease after a crash. Taking Barry’s offered hand, Wally pulled himself up, swaying only once before managing to regain his faculties. When Wally looked back at his uncle, he was looking at his time and laps as well. Wally huffed, reaching up to push his damp hair out of his face. “You don’t have to say it,” he panted. “That was shit.”</p><p>“I wasn’t going to say that,” Barry countered with a look. He nudged Wally along, urging him back toward the benches.</p><p>“You were thinking it,” Wally replied. Still, he didn’t argue as Barry passed him a sports drink and a towel, flopping back onto the bench with a long, rasping sigh. Wiping the soft towel over his forehead and the back of his neck, Wally then dropped the cloth at his feet in favour of downing the drink. He still had blue liquid dribbling off his chin when he pulled away from the bottle to speak. “Just give me a couple minutes, I can go again.”</p><p>“No,” Barry said bluntly, arms crossed above him. Wally almost wished he had the cowl on. “We’ve done enough for today.”</p><p>“I mean it,” Wally insisted. “I just need a quick break and I’ll be fine, I can do better-”</p><p>“Wally, <em>no,” </em>the blond cut him off with a sigh. “This isn’t about you getting a better score. It’s not about you proving anything alright?” Barry braced a hand on his shoulder with a firm grip and a light shake, trying to coax Wally to listen to him. “Something’s wrong. All I care about is making sure we get to the bottom of it. We have enough info to go on for today.”</p><p>Wally held out for just a moment longer before finally giving in. Something was wrong. There wasn’t any avoiding it at this point. Something had been wrong for a while but he’d spent too long in denial and now it was coming at him tenfold. The consequences were his own stupid fault at this point, weren’t they? He’d hidden his pain for months until he physically couldn’t any longer. Maybe if he hadn’t been such a stubborn ass, he could have fixed this a long time ago.</p><p>No more time for mentally beating himself up over it. Wally had just finished his first bottle and was nodding in distracted thanks to Barry as he handed him his second, when he noticed a trio of scientists approaching them. Dr. Caudhari was the lead on this project and a close coworker of Barry’s. With him were Dr. Ramsay, a bit of a stiff, and Dr. McGee, another one of Barry’s friends and more of a familiar face. The best and the brightest in their field, right here in Central trying to help Wally - and from the looks on their faces, they were all just about as fucking clueless as Wally was.</p><p>Barry stood up straighter as they approached, brows deepening. “Anything?” he asked.</p><p>“The results are... not ideal, to put it lightly,” Dr. Chaudhari answered somewhat awkwardly. “We have no conclusive answers yet, and the computers are still running through the info we do have. It will take some time before we can definitely get to the bottom of this.”</p><p>“So, it could still be a temporary thing, right?” Wally prodded. “If we don’t know for sure.”</p><p>Dr. Ramsay spoke up then, eyes scanning over the tablet in his hands. The light reflected in his glasses, and Wally found himself in vain trying to read the tablet through the reflection. “You said this started in the past several months, but has  gotten worse in the last few weeks?”</p><p>“Yeah...” Wally murmured, still shrinking from Barry’s disapproving stare. He ducked his head, rolling his shoulder back. “Just over the past couple days alone.”</p><p>Ramsay nodded, marking something off on the tablet without looking up. “These symptoms seem to be progressing at a rapid rate. It is a possibility that they have been brought on by an outside incident,” Wally perked up a bit at hearing that, only to be met with Dr. Ramsay’s cold stare. “However, it is more likely that this is the result of an underlying issue.”</p><p>“An underlying issue?” Barry interjected, concern raising the pitch of his voice.</p><p>“We cannot hypothesize anything just yet,” Chaudhari replied in with a curt look to his colleague. “There is still too much data to sort through. However, I do want to do a comparison to Wallace’s earlier tests, Barry, if you could send the files to me.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Barry nodded in somewhat of a daze, glancing down at Wally for a brief moment before looking back. “Yeah, of course. Whatever you need.”</p><p>Dr. McGee took her turn to step up then. The bright purple socks she wore underneath her dress pants set her apart from her coworkers if the curly hair she had pulled back into space buns didn’t do the trick. She pulled a bottle of antacids out of her pocket and tossed them to Wally, who caught them with ease. “This is the stuff you’ve been taking right?”</p><p>Wally nodded as he turned the familiar plastic over in his hands. He popped the lid off, shaking one of the pellets into his palm. “Uh huh,” he nodded as he tossed the bottle back. “They’ve helped a little... takes the edge off, at least.” Popping the pellet onto his mouth, Wally took a swig of his Powerade to wash it down, still making a sour face as the taste. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Barry he hated the flavour.</p><p>Dr. McGee watched Wally for a moment as he relaxed. “It depends on what we find in the data, obviously,” she began with a shrug, “but my best bet is that the reason they help is less to do with the chemistry and more to do with the... electrostatics, I guess. Antacids like these have alkaline ions that neutralize acids in the stomach, and boom! No more heartburn. But, those ions could also be having a more physical effect on your powers, when they seem to be... acting out.” She smiled down at Wally, flipping the bottle over in her palm. She nearly dropped it, fumbling to catch it. Wally almost felt bad for laughing until she laughed herself. Dr. McGee slipped the bottle into her pocket. “I’ll get to work on something a little stronger. If we can utilize the same principle, we could develop-”</p><p>“A cure?” Wally interrupted.</p><p>Dr. McGee flinched, looking back to her colleagues for a moment before shifting her pitying gaze to Wally. “We can’t say for certain. Not until we know what’s happening,” she replied sympathetically. “But this could be a... remedy, for lack of a better term.”</p><p>Feeling a little stupid for his excited outburst, Wally nodded. “Yeah, yeah, ‘course...” he muttered. “Better than nothing, right?”</p><p>“Exactly,” Dr. McGee beamed.</p><p>It was several minutes of idle talk that Wally couldn’t care enough to listen to before he was dismissed for the afternoon. Waving to the scientists and giving his half-hearted thanks, Wally dragged himself off to the showers. It took him ages just to peel out of the suit they’d given him, and the glue where they’d stuck down their sensors had gone tacky from his own sweat, ripping at his skin as he tried to peel them off. The moment he stepped under the stream, cool enough to shock his muscles, Wally let out a long groaned and splashed the water over his face. It was a struggle just to accept everything he’d been told that day. Up until that point, he’d been clinging to vain optimism - or, again, plain denial. Still, he was nothing if not logical. He had been faced with the undisputed truth that afternoon.</p><p>Something was wrong with him. Fuck, something was <em>really</em> wrong with him.</p><p>Wally was still reeling when he came out of the locker room, changed into his civvies. His hair was still a little damp, but he couldn’t bother to do more than shake it out a bit with the towel in his hands, before shoving it into his gym bag. He made his way down the sterile white corridor, each turn looking the same until he made it to a small grey room with cracked leather couches and a busted vending machine. Tall windows overlooked the track, blocked out only by two desks of monitors on either side of the room. Wally spotted a slowed-down image of him running, with a rendering bar split across the screen. Barry was standing from one of the crappy sofas before he could get a good look at it, though.</p><p>“All set?” Barry asked, clapping Wally on the shoulder. Wally noticed the difference immediately. Normally, Barry would get a kick out of playfully pushing him enough to knock him off balance. His touch just now was <em>docile. </em>Wally’s stomach churned. Barry didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll call you ASAP if I get any updates from the lab, kay? Until then, take it easy.”</p><p>“Uh... sure,” Wally replied as the two of them started toward the elevator. “Y’know, I seriously feel fine, aside from... all that.”</p><p>Barry still hadn’t let go of his shoulder as they reached it, using his free hand to call the elevator down. “I know, I know, but it’s better to be on the safe side, alright? Your Mom said she’s gonna have a good dinner for you when you get home, so at least just relax for the ni-”</p><p>“Wait,” Wally ripped himself out of Barry’s grasp. “You told my folks?!”</p><p>Startled enough by the violent movement, Barry took a moment longer still to register the anger in Wally’s voice. He blinked, a frown crossing his features as he stared back at his nephew in confusion. “I- yeah, of course I did, Wally. I had to tell them what we were doing here today. I’d have figured you’d already told them about all this.” Barry trailed off, his expression morphing from confused to upset. “You didn’t tell them, did you? <em>Wally-</em>”</p><p>“It wasn’t for you to tell,” Wally bit out, already adjusting his gym bag over his shoulder and turning to stalk toward the stairwell.</p><p>Barry turned after him. “You <em>can’t</em> keep this a secret, Wally.”</p><p>“I don’t care,” Wally snapped back as he wrenched the stairwell door open. “I’m not a <em>kid </em>anymore, Barry! You had no right to tell them.”</p><p>“Well, you’re definitely <em>acting </em>like one,” Barry retorted.</p><p>Wally spun around in the threshold of the stairwell, his voice echoing up cavernous space and off the concrete walls. “Tell them for what, huh? What’re they supposed to do about it?”</p><p>“They need to know because they <em>care</em>, Wally,” Barry insisted. “Look, I know you have your differences, but-”</p><p>“No, you <em>don’t</em> know!” Wally shouted. “If I didn’t want them to know, it was my choice! Mom’s just gonna be a martyr about it, and it’s not like Dad actually gives a shit anyway! It wasn’t for you to tell anyone!”</p><p>It was only a second - but for the both of them, a second could last an eternity. Still, it was just enough to see the shock in Barry’s eyes, the torrent of emotions Wally had thrown on him drowning the man into silence. But the moment that second was up, Wally was turning letting the heavy steel door slam shut behind him as he stormed up the stairs. He ignored the burning in his legs, in his chest, the roaring inferno in his head, as he pushed himself up flight after flight. With each step, the utter <em>stupidity</em> of his outburst was building up, weighing heavier on his shoulders to the point he wasn’t sure he could make it to the top. He knew Barry’s heart had been in the right place. He knew that he was at least partly right, but it’d all suddenly become too much.</p><p>And he’d taken it out on the one person he could trust right now. Granted, that trust was feeling trampled in the dirt, but it was his hot temper that made it worse.</p><p>When Wally reached the ground floor of Star, he was half expecting Barry to be waiting for him at the door, asking if he was done being dramatic. The lobby was empty. A security guard sat at the desk by the door, scrolling through their computer without paying much attention. Probably for the best, honestly. Wally needed to cool down, and he doubted Barry wanted much to do with him right now. Switching the gym bag off his aching shoulder and onto the other, Wally made his way to the exit. He pushed on the bar of the turnstile to find it locked and waited for the security guard to look up from their screen and let him out.</p><p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1j63H4ilMaP6QCxUnRigFu?si=MehZB8jkRyW8zXcXlVr5NQ">It was raining</a>. Wally didn’t even stop to enjoy the cool air on his skin, or the water dripping into his already damp hair. Pulling his hood over his head, Wally made his way to the bus stop, jogging up to the bus to Keystone just before it pulled away. After fiddling with the change in the pocket of his jeans, he paid his fair and took a seat in the far back. Wally slumped against the window with a sigh, pressing his forehead against the cold glass. The other passengers on the bus didn’t spare him a second glance. They didn’t spare any for each other. The bus pulled out into the light afternoon traffic, and the strangers were all ghosts to each other.</p><p>Wally pulled his phone out from his hoodie pocket as his cell came back into reception. He had expected a few missed calls from his parents, but lo and behold, they were radio silent. Dick’s name was the only one that came up in his notifications, from a few texts sent about an hour ago.</p><p>
  <em>Hey, study date this week? DG</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Before things get too crazy with exams. DG</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Won’t get a chance to hang out outside of Team time. DG</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Aaannddd I’m gonna miss your face. DG</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Alright, I just really need a hand with my AP Physics, but don’t make me say you’re smarter than me. DG</em>
</p><p>Wally had just enough energy for a faint smile as he read over Dick’s texts, but as his gaze shifted to the droplets of water sliding down the glass, he realized like a blow to the stomach that Dick was right. They wouldn’t. They barely did as it was. And just like that, in the quiet of the back of a bus, Wally realised that he was one drop away from his whole life slipping through his fingers. He closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. When he opened them again, he watched as the fog of his breath dissipated form the glass, distorting his view of the city passing by.</p><p>He could practically hear Barry’s voice in his head as he looked down at this phone again, at the image of Dick grinning back at him. <em>“You can’t keep this a secret, Wally.”</em></p><p>Denial may have kept him ignorant for a long time, but Wally wasn’t stupid. He knew that something wrong with his powers would effect him on the field. If he couldn’t keep up, he’d be off the team. If he was off the team, he wouldn’t see Dick half as much. He wouldn’t be <em>Kid Flash</em> anymore, wouldn’t be able to save people, wouldn’t feel the rush of it. This had been his whole life for <em>years</em>, and the thought of it all being taken away was... terrifying.</p><p>Wally texted Dick back.</p><p>
  <em>I’m in. But you should totally say it ;) WW</em>
</p><p>He couldn’t keep this a secret. But he’d keep it a little while longer, all the same.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
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